MindBullets is a part of the global FutureWorld Network, constantly sensitive to changes in the technological, economic, social, political and business landscape.
The MindBullets Contributors scan this rapidly changing environment for clues about possible future trends.
The results of this synthesis are combined by our contributors into an on-going series of MindBullets: News from the Future - with a summary emailed to you every Thursday and the complete MindBullets data base available online to explore each scenario in more detail.
Exciting scenarios of alternative futures based on breakthrough thinking today.
A powerful tool to help you learn from the future - a new MindBullet every week!

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Computers can also make mistakes

Dateline: 22 March 2022

Your driverless car does have a driver, but it's not human, it's a machine; or rather, a system, including bits of hardware and software, and things to make them operate independently and together.
If it sounds pretty complicated, that's because modern automated systems are. In fact, if it wasn't for the sophistication of electronic components and their advanced programmability, we wouldn't have reusable space rockets or driverless cars at all.
Assuming you've used a laptop computer for many years, ...

Love in the post digital age

Dateline: 14 February 2029

Ten years ago, it was all about sending a selfie, or perhaps something more risqué and risky, to your beloved, or the secret of your heart's desire. Now it's a lot different. We've moved beyond snapchat and Instagram; haptic telepresence is simulated teleportation. We've conquered space and time, virtually; and with brain-computer interfaces our very thoughts can be shared. But still lovers lament...
Roses are red, violets are blue,I searched for a mate, my AI chose you.
Our first date was ...

Tycoon's family in feud with his avatar wife's lawyers

Dateline: 1 February 2034

Dr Akihiro Miaku the famous Japanese tycoon who died earlier this year under mysterious circumstances (rumoured poisoning) is back in the headlines, after his will was leaked to the press by a disgruntled, anonymous, family member.
Dr Miaku, who had significant business interests in the Japanese renewable energy sector, was revealed to have left his entire 3 billion Yen (27.5 million USD) fortune to his wife - a hologram nicknamed Suzi.
The eccentric billionaire married his hologram wife 11 ...

Customers dictate the course of business

Dateline: 1 February 2023

Change is inevitable, but many businesses don't like or want change. Not when they're on top, and milking the cash cow; if it's not broke, don't try to fix it! But just because you're making super profits, and your customers adore you, doesn't mean it's going to be that way forever, even if you're Apple or Coca-Cola. Just ask Kodak.
Shareholders and employees like to think it's 'their' business, but it's not much fun running or owning a business with no customers; a bit like a morgue, except that ...

Young blood rated tops for healthy aging

Dateline: 2 March 2020

Donated blood used to be good enough if it was free of infection and if it was the same type as the patient's. But now there's another criterion on which it is rated: the age of the donor.
When a geneticist published research in 2018, concluding that plasma from young blood improves the physical health of older individuals, every second start-up wannabe took notice. It is claimed that the young blood will, by implication, also counteract the development of age-related diseases like dementia and ...

Quantum sensing sees the invisible

Dateline: 18 December 2021

The Butterfly Effect theorizes that the beating of the wings of a single butterfly in Japan could cause a hurricane in Hawaii. What it really means, is that everything in nature and the world is connected on some level, however insignificant it may seem. And the greatest connection is at the molecular level, beyond the nanoscale.
Much like the way smart systems can detect someone moving in the next room, by analyzing faint disturbances in the background WiFi signals, we can now 'see' into opaque ...

Machines don't have a heart

Dateline: 12 January 2022

That's the problem with artificial intelligence - it's pretty cold and mechanical; and it lacks emotional intelligence.
Companies like Google and Amazon have worked hard over the last five years to inject some warmth and 'humanity' into their voice assistants, but it's an uphill battle. "Not very witty, and no sense of humor either," was how one reviewer described the latest incarnation of Siri on Apple's iPhones.
Which is why more and more people are starting to rebuff smart assistants and work ...

As science progresses at an exponential rate, people turn to a new faith

Dateline: 23 June 2038

To those who don't know its secrets, science is indistinguishable from magic. In times of exponential technological growth, many people can no longer logically comprehend the way the increasingly digitized world around them works.
In the past, people turned to religions, deities and mythologies to make sense of what they could not understand. These days though, the old religions, such as Christianity, Islam and Hinduism have lost a lot of appeal, not least because of their problematically ...

Are we ready for computers and robots that are smarter than humans?

Dateline: 8 October 2048

That's a question fraught with questions of its own. Smarter than which humans? In what way? And so on.
On average, people think they are smarter than average; which is a statistical impossibility. What that really means, is that most of us think we're smarter than we really are. Now I'm not talking about geniuses with super-high IQs, or those millionaires that have upgraded their brains with neuroprosthetics. They're clearly in a different category, almost another species. Nevermind them.
But most ...

China and America reap the AI dividend

Dateline: 3 December 2030

In the last 15 years, we have witnessed the stunning rise of an exponential technology - machine learning and artificial intelligence. Like Moore's Law on steroids, smart machines and computer systems have created entirely new global industries, turbo-boosted productivity, and destroyed old, industrial age business sectors.
The Economist, now a purely digital research and analysis house, estimates the 'new value' created by this phenomenon at over US$ 19 trillion globally. But a full 70% of this ...

Shouldn't you be rewarded if you are the product?

Dateline: 23 September 2023

A bit more than a decade ago, it would have cost you US$ 10,000 to have your entire genome sequenced; four years ago, about $100. But now, you can take the highest bidder, and get paid for your genomic data.
Of course, the first complete sequence of a human genome was an enormous undertaking, as there was no reference data, and the project cost an estimated US$ 2.7 billion, but Moore's Law soon came into effect, and prices plummeted as the tech became mainstream and automated.
Soon it was the ...

Your innermost thoughts and feelings might not be your own!

Dateline: 3 September 2032

We've all been taught to trust our instincts. That little voice that tells us infallibly, what is right and what's wrong. Sometimes we subconsciously or willfully disregard that voice, thinking that, this time, it's different. Sometimes our goals, our egos, our sense of logic, override our feelings and intuition.
But since neuralink adapters have connected our thoughts directly to the cloud, we've been able to explore new ways of thinking, with augmented intelligence. Boosting our natural brain ...

Actual existence not a prerequisite for wealth anymore

Dateline: 28 September 2023

For a long time, people invested in and trusted those who they could see in the flesh. Steve Jobs presenting the new iPhone on stage. Tick. Warren Buffet speaking at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting. Tick. Heidi Klum strutting her stuff for Victoria's Secret. Tick.
Not anymore. The world economy has witnessed a new influx of millionaires who built their wealth on, well, nothing. Nothing but data, that is.
It started with computer-generated models and Instagram influencers who dethroned ...

It's not drugs or gene therapy

Dateline: 26 June 2024

In the last six years, a bunch of longevity entrepreneurs, or should I say aging researchers, have been seeking the holy grail: a way to slow down or even reverse the aging process. In other words, keep you living longer, and having healthier lives while you do so. For money, of course, but it's a noble purpose, so no-one is complaining.
Now prominent geneticist and longevity evangelist Craig Vesper has announced that he has the answer, and it's not a miracle drug, or even modifying your genes, ...

Mind-reading tech worn by employees is alienating customers

Dateline: 1 May 2024

Lisa Chen's mother always said that Lisa's whole spectrum of emotions is reflected on her face. Regardless of whether she's angry or ecstatic, Lisa has always been unable to mask what she's feeling. She always felt bad about it, until now.
Back in 2018 it came to light that firms in the electronic equipment, power supply and telecoms industries were using sensor-fitted hats and helmets to measure their workers' levels of stress, anxiety and depression. Based on the data, employers adjusted shifts ...

Pervasive education replaces high school and college

Dateline: 11 July 2030

Remember when every teacher heaved a sigh of relief when they heard the news "School's out for summer" and they could enjoy their holiday? Now school's out - completely.
Granted, basic formal education is still a good idea for young kids, who need to learn life skills, like how to handle things when our smart devices misbehave, but what's the point of congregating at a physical site, just to be told what you already know, by someone who's not necessarily as smart as you? That's 'old school' for ...

Tech is no longer regarded as a sector

Dateline: 23 June 2031

FinTech, MarTech, InsurTech, LegTech, AgTech, EnerTech - they're all dead. A decade ago, news feeds and timelines were swamped with the latest entrant into one of these sub-sectors. Thousands of startups proudly adopted an 'xTech' descriptor, as they tried to carve a superniche for themselves from the digital supercycle.
But the fever of digital transformation of business has cooled; the era of digitalization of industry is all but over. The fact is, any business enterprise that has not incorporated ...

It's funny to think that we were impressed when filters could make our photos look cooler. Or that Spotify could suggest other artists based on our taste in music. Clever and entertaining, but not really significant. An algorithm that stops you from ruining your reputation, now that's a completely different story.
A former Facebook bigshot has now started his own firm called Barrier. Trevor Scott saw his opportunity as numerous Facebook users ended up being fired or sued based on what they sent ...

Young would-be homebuyers forced to move back in with mom and dad

Dateline: 5 April 2021

It's the moment almost all parents wait for - graduation cap in hand, the chicks finally leave the nest. Spread your wings and fly little birdies, mom and dad think to themselves. It's just a pity that lately the peace and quiet doesn't seem to last long.
Initially it looked like a blip that would pass, but multigenerational households are here to stay, at least for the near future. In fact, one in four Americans now have such a setup at home. Global property prices have ballooned and many a ...

We've seen it all before, but this time it's different

Dateline: 6 June 2020

It's just like 20, or maybe 200 years ago, but it's completely different!
Disruption has always plagued established markets and societies, throughout the ages. The first waterwheel or windmill for grinding wheat into flour was disruptive technology at work; nascent and naïve, but a foretaste of things to come, in a tumultuous tsunami of ever accelerating change.
Steam power and traction engines, threshing machines and cotton gins; it seemed as though there was no end to our ability to employ ...